Staff report

MARS HILL – Senior Day added some box-out energy and maybe even a few inches of vertical jump for Mars Hill’s women’s basketball team on Saturday.

The Lions battered Catawba 53-28 on the glass and beat the Indians 63-54 in a South Atlantic Conference matchup of teams with similar records.

Lauren Arnold (West Rowan) played a role in the Lions’ domination of the backboards with 11 rebounds in 23 minutes of action. The 5-foot-11 freshman also contributed five points.

Mars Hill (16-11, 13-10) held Catawba’s Janiya Foskey, who has been on a rampage in February, to 10 points. Mary Spry (Carson) scored nine in 15 minutes. Bailee Goodlett (North Rowan) and Nala Baker scored eight each.

Catawba (15-10, 13-8) shot 35 percent and made only three 3-pointers. The Lions shot 36.5 percent and made seven 3s.

Catawba earned a 23-17 edge in the turnover battle, but that wasn’t a large enough margin to make up for the rebounding disparity.

Mars Hill led by 10 after the first quarter. Catawba made up some ground in the middle two quarters, but the Indians scored just six in the fourth quarter.

Catawba      14   18    16    6    — 54

Mars Hill     24    13   14   12   — 63

CATAWBA scoring — Foskey 10, Spry 9, Goodlett 8, Baker 8. Janus 7. Williams 7, Fuertes Lara 5.